What is an amorphous metallic alloy ribbon?
Amorphous metallic alloys, often referred to as metallic glasses, are relatively new materials, mainly available in the form of thin ribbons. They are prepared from molten metallic alloys by a rapid cooling technique. In this technique a ribbon of molten metallic alloy is poured onto a rapidly rotating copper drum. Due to the thinness of the ribbon 20 (65.6) to 30(98.4) microns (micro foot), it cools very quickly (at a rate of about 1,000,000 degrees/second). Since solidification occurs so quickly, no crystalline structure has any chance of forming. Instead, an amorphous solid, in the form of a very thin ribbon, is created (the width varies from a few millimeters (milli-foot) to 10cm (0.328 foot).
